First Day @ AUC

well, I just got back from a lovely brisk 15 minute walk :) I don't know why I suddenly feel like hiking up hill and dale, but it's probably because I'm such a sucker for fresh air, and I've been stuck inside for 3 hours straight this morning for class (with a tiny break) and 3 hours straight this afternoon doing homework and I had our single window that only opens up 5 inches closed till just a few minutes ago. The problem is that it is windy, so every time the wind blows, the door jiggles, and that can get extremely irritating after a while, to hear the door constantly jiggling back and forth! I am really appreciating Weimar more and more every day, especially having my own little place, and being able to work where I can smell fresh pine air and have my window open in the office and walk to get water from behind the caf and walk to the admin building and walk everywhere, constantly! I smiled as I went on my walk today, I realized two reasons why God brought me here: so that I could appreciate the blessings I have at Weimar and so I can focus on Him with no distractions. Here there is no TV, no music, no friends, no places to eat, no shopping, no cleaning, no meetings, no work, nothing except for the basic every day things like eating breakfast and brushing my hair, going to class and doing homework. The rest of the time I'm free. It's kind of strange, I realized, as I found myself checking my work email, but then stopped myself short of answering the emails. I realized I am a workaholic and it's because I need to feel needed, I need to know that people count on me, because that is the type of person I am. But this is what I need, right now. I need to be in a place where I can be quiet, get away from the busy rush of it all, and just be still. I think that's gonna be kinda hard for me to do! but I'm grateful for the opportunity and am actually reveling in the thought that I have 6 whole weeks of stillness. Oh, one thing I am absolutely grateful for is that the water tastes good and there is a water fountain in the building. I'm sooo happy about that because if the water doesn't taste good, I'm not likely to drink it! I hope I can sleep better tonight, but at least I have a pillow and my mattress is firm instead of hard (it's comparable to one of those Weimar sanitarium mattresses!). And praise the Lord for fast internet and Pandora so I can at least listen to music. I think my roommate will be in the library most of the time (she's doing a night class too) so I shall be here by myself quiet for a lot of the time, which suits me just fine. Tomorrow begins a whole new day, and I'm pleased because I've already done my homework and am contemplating doing tomorrow's homework as well :) We had an interesting assignment today: to evaluate a paper about God as Woman. I personally thought the author was focusing on all the negative parts of how women haven't been able to hold equal ecclesiastical posts, but I was happy with my reaction paper. One point I made was: we (men & women) are equal but equal does not mean identical.

Okey dokey, I shall sign off for now!